http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/PigeonDam.mp3
A small but notorious dam on one of Michigan's prettiest trout streams might soon come down. And when it does anglers expect to see a dramatic difference in the Pigeon River.
But what fishermen value about the river is at odds with how the owners of the dam view it.
Failure to Operate
Owners at Golden Lotus yoga retreat have twice made big mistakes operating their dam over the last quarter century. And each time muck from the pond behind the dam surged downstream smothering river life, killing tens of thousands of trout.
Dave Smethurst has been fishing, hunting and hiking in the Pigeon River State Forest for the last 40 years. And both times the dam failed he was there to witness the destruction.
"To see my river, and for trout fishermen rivers are very personal, to see my river devoid of life for several miles, it just wrenches your gut," Smethurst says.
Change for the River
Smethurst is a retired history teacher from Gaylord. He's on the board of the Headwaters Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
T.U. is party to a lawsuit by the state of Michigan against Golden Lotus. The organization has been pushing for the entire dam to come out.
And when it's gone, Smethurst expects to see a better river. For one thing, he says, the 50 acre pond behind the dam eventually will go away.
The shallow pond releases water too warm for trout to live in. Not only that, Smethurst says, but it acts as a choke point piling up sand and sediment for miles upstream. "Today that fishing up there is a shadow of its former self because all the holes are filled in and there's sand everywhere," he says.
Already the river has washed away the sediment released downstream during the failure three years ago.
And fisheries biologist Tim Cwalinski with the Department of Natural Resources says brown and brook trout numbers have rebounded. He says once the dam is gone colder water in that area will support more aquatic life and bigger fish. "But it also affects how cold that stream can be farther down the river, 10 15, 20 miles, by the time July, August hits which is our most stressful time for trout in terms of water temperature."
View From The Pond
But fish and fishing are not the main values that the owners of Golden Lotus see in the water.
Carol Armour is chair of the board of the non-profit group. She says it was founded several decades ago by a wealthy Detroit businessman when his yoga instructor advised him to develop a retreat, far from the city.
"It was traditional to take your disciples to the forest to teach them wisdom and understanding," Armour says. "And the quiet, the beauty, the contact with nature, the still, you know you're just a little bit closer to God, it's just a little easier."
Armour says the dam and the pond have been here for more than a hundred years. And she says the setting has become a spiritual home for those who return for retreats to get in touch with the deeper aspects of yoga.
She likes to get away to the far end of the pond herself where a family of trumpeter swans can be seen. "I was there the other day and there were three otters, babies, playing around," Armour says. "And of course the swans hang out back there. And the eagles sometimes perch on their nest and you can see them. It's just incredible."
Dave Smethurst with Trout Unlimited also feels the Pigeon River is the kind of place that restores the soul. But he says the Golden Lotus property doesn't fit his idea of what that means.
"There, there's a dam with boulders that are obviously placed by man, not by God," Smethurst says. "There's buildings. And there's this muck hole of a pond. And no, that's not the same as being in a natural place."
The Twist
Ordinarily the DNR would agree. It's agency policy to completely remove dams whenever possible.
But in an unusual twist, DNR officials sided with Golden Lotus to allow part of the structure to remain.
The yoga group says it needs to keep concrete walls along the sides of the dam and a concrete pad on the bottom to support a small bridge across the top. That's the main way to reach their office, lodging and classrooms.
The attorney for Golden Lotus says it can't afford to tear down the dam plus rebuild the bridge. And if a judge's order to do that holds up then the non-profit likely would go out of business.
Tim Cwalinski, the DNR fisheries biologist, says it's a big win to get an agreement just to remove guts of the dam. With that gone, he says, the possibility of another failure and more fish killed disappears.
"I don't think in my career we'd ever see a structure removal at the Golden Lotus site," Cwalinski says. "And I can say now, we will. So how can you not feel good about that."
But members of Trout Unlimited don't feel good about it. They say leaving some concrete in the river will still cause harm. TU argues it will speed up the flow of water so much that most fish will not be able to swim through.
The DNR disagrees. State officials think mostly smaller fish will be blocked.
Dave Smethurst says the whole point of taking out a dam is to return the river to its natural state. And he says that means a natural flow of water and free passage of all species up and down the river.
"So I see some direct results of the dam coming out on, I don't know, maybe 10 or twelve miles of trout stream," Smethurst says. "It would be like almost inventing 10 or 12 miles of prime trout water. And humans have a hard time inventing that."
The question of how much of Golden Lotus Dam will have to be removed is now before the Michigan Court of Appeals.